COVID booster shots targeting omicron variants rolling out in Minnesota Wednesday
MINNEAPOLIS -- Doses of the newest COVID-19 booster shots are rolling out in Minnesota Wednesday. The "bivalent" vaccine is one single shot that targets two variants.
The doses are available to anyone older than 12 years old. People who got their last vaccine dose more than two months ago qualify.
Appointments are open at the state-run vaccination site at the Mall of America. Hy-Vee says it also has a limited supply of the vaccine available. The state sites in Duluth, St. Paul Midway, Rochester, and Moorhead will start taking appointments next week.
Medical experts like Dr. George Morris with CentraCare say that while COVID-19 is still deadlier than the flu and more contagious than a cold, it doesn't pack the same punch it used to.
"In all honesty, most people in Minnesota have either been exposed to COVID or have some level of antibodies created from the vaccine," Morris said.
The COVID-19 vaccine is likely to become an annual shot that gets updated each year like the flu vaccine, Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a White House press briefing on the coronavirus response Tuesday.
But Morris said that not everyone necessarily needs one.
"For a significant portion of our population that's at risk, that's where I'd encourage boosters," he said. "I don't believe for young 20s, young teens, young 30s with no health problems, it's a life or death situation."
However, for those over the age of 65, or work with people who are, the booster has the protections you need.
"I just think it's the safe thing to do. I don't want to get sick, basically," Morris said.
The Minnesota Department of Health started with a few hundred bivalent vaccine appointments at the Mall of America, but say they have the capacity for that number to reach the thousands if demand rises that high.
Last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on the recommendation following majority votes by a panel of the CDC's outside vaccine advisers backing the updated vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. The Food and Drug Administration issued its authorization on Wednesday.
"This recommendation followed a comprehensive scientific evaluation and robust scientific discussion. If you are eligible, there is no bad time to get your COVID-19 booster and I strongly encourage you to receive it," Walensky said in a statement.
The new formulations mark the first substantial redesign to the design of the COVID-19 vaccines since they were rolled out earlier in the pandemic.
Vials of the so-called "bivalent" shots from each company blend together a component from their original "prototype" shots with new one designed to target the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5. The CDC estimates those strains now make up virtually every infection across the country.
Federal health officials have also touted the rollout as a key shift to simplify the nation's vaccination strategy, with Americans now able to get "up to date" on their COVID-19 protection with only a single shot of the updated vaccine.
